Unafraid
by finallyxfound
Summary: Prequel to A Cake For Mommy. Troy gets nervous on his wedding day and there's only one way to calm his nerves. OneShot


**Unfraid**

"Twenty bucks he pays over a thousand for a new floor," Jason was the first one to break the silence between the three silent groomsmen who were intently watching the groom pace back and forth, grooving a ditch into the newly finished hardwood floors in the room just behind the sanctuary.

"I've got fifty," Zeke chimed in with a huge grin as he leaned back in his own chair. "Better yet – let's up the ante," he went on to suggest between him, Jason and Chad, "Fifty he breaks the golden rule of the wedding day."

All three of them still watched their best friend, Troy as he kept pacing back and forth, ignoring their conversation and thinking about how this was the day – the day he would truly give his life away to the one who had stolen it when she first smiled at him many, many years ago. But they were right – he was nervous. Nervous beyond his years and Troy didn't know exactly how to clam them without seeing her face. Rubbing the back of his neck and stopping for a moment in front of the full length mirror, he could hardly believe that this day was here…and in less than two hours, which Chad had just reminded him, he would be one half of the new Mr. and Mrs. Troy Jackson Bolton.

Letting out a deep breath, he still remembered the day he proposed to her- the carnival had been in town and she had, still has, this love for Ferris Wheels. He didn't have anything planned, just a ring in his pocket but when he saw the Ferris wheel looming over Albuquerque, he had made up one on the spot. Making the excuse that he was afraid of heights and there was only one thing to make that fear go away was the greatest excuse he ever made up out of thin air. The moment she said yes, he was so happy that he couldn't move and her reaction to that had been nothing more than classic. She started rambling to make sure he was okay and that's when he kissed her. Everything was perfect in that moment in time and now, well, now it was becoming a reality. He was gong to be married in less than two hours and he couldn't get rid of his nerves.

Yeah, all he needed right now was that. For her to be right beside him, telling him that they would both get through this day smoothly without any idiotic slip ups from Chad or himself, kiss her, talk to her – that was it and he would be fine. Troy turned back around and was caught off guard by Chad standing a little too close for comfort.

"Nervous?" his best friend and best man asked him, patting him on the shoulder.

"That obvious?" Troy pushed past Chad and walked over to the window where he could see the limousine already waiting for the Mr. and Mrs. Troy Bolton to be escorted to the reception hall.

"Yeah, that obvious," Chad paused as Zeke and Jason exited the room for their turn for pictures with the bridesmaids out in the sanctuary. He walked up behind him and laid his hand on Troy's shoulder once more. "We got pictures with the ladies. Breathe and behave, okay?"

"Got it, Dad," he sarcastically answered back, a smile curling at his lips.

"That means no breaking the golden rule either," Chad pointed to his friend and slipped out of the room. _Thank you Chad for giving me ideas._

* * *

Her hands smoothed down and over the silky white fabric and she stared at herself in the mirror. Butterflies flapped their paper thing wings in her stomach as she turned around, still amazed at her mother's ability to repair her grandmother's wedding dress. It was perfect and looked just as it did when Angelina had said _I do_ to Frederico Montez almost fifty years ago. Letting a deep sigh out of her petite body, she pushed back a strand of her curly brunette hair and stared about the now empty bridal suite. Kelsi, Sharpay, Taylor and even her mother had went to take the wedding party pictures in the sanctuary and honestly, Gabriella was in need of a little alone time before everything started in less than two hours. Flowers sat on the table, shoes were ready by the door, her veil, still waiting to be placed on top of her head, was by the vanity…yeah, everything was ready and so was she. Well, mostly. 

Twirling the amazing engagement ring on her finger, she was still amazed that she was going to be marrying her high school sweetheart, the man of her dreams, the Troy Bolton in….looking at the clock on the wall, less than one hour. And now she was getting panicky. She was scared. What if she tripped and fell? What if she threw up all over his father's shoes, who was the one walking her down the aisle? What is she forgot her vows? A zillion questions and horrid realities rushed through her brain and she fought to push them away, glancing at herself once more in the mirror from behind. She was getting married and she couldn't wait.

"Gabriella?" Suddenly her name echoed on the other side of the wooden door not far from her place in the room and she picked up her white train, shuffling her bunny slippered feet over to the closed frame.

"Troy? What are you doing here?" she whispered like they were in high school, playing a modern day Romeo and Juliet that were breaking the rules by talking to one another.

"This isn't breaking the rules, is it? I just….I needed to hear your voice and I know you left your cell at the house," he confessed all in one breath. "Chad snores."

"So does Sharpay," Gabriella giggled and pressed her stood there silent, listening to him breathe – something she missed last night. It was different not sleeping next to him. They had lived together for about six months and Gabriella, honestly, loved it. It just felt natural being with him like that, waking up in his arms, putting on a fake smile when he attempted to make breakfast some Saturday mornings. "Are you nervous, Troy?"

"Scared as hell," he confessed even more to her. "I don't know why, but I am. Getting up in front of our family and friends and shouting to the world that I'm going to be Mr. Gabriella Montez is something that I've wanted to do since our junior year in college. But just thinking of all those people…"

"Didn't we go through this already?"

"Did we? I remember Sharpay giving us the sex talk yesterday night, but…"

"Yeah, we've already past that phase," Gabriella smiled more and could picture him doing the same, leaning up against the door in his tux, twiddling with his cuffs in his sleeves. "Me too."

"Me too what?"

"Scared, but I don't think as much as you."

"Tell me again why we didn't elope?" she felt his head knock against the wood paneling and heard him ask.

Another giggle escaped her lips as she traced the outline of the door with her French manicured hands, "Because when I mentioned it in August you shot me down as fast as Chad runs after the ice cream truck in the summer."

"I did, didn't I?" Gabriella heard him smile and a few silent moments stole the show as she remembered the day she asked him to elope to Vegas or somewhere quick. It was right when both of their mothers were getting way too involved and she was going out of her mind since he had been at a business conference in New York City. "Can I be honest, Gabby?"

"Always, Troy, always," she whispered between them and let her head rest on the cool wood.

"I want this day to be over with already."

"What?" she creased her brow, not sure if he meant this in a good way or a bad way. And if he was having second thoughts – this was so not the way to tell her about them. "You're not having second thoughts, right? Please tell me no."

"No, Gabby," Troy shook his head on the other side as he paid attention to any sounds that were around him. "Lord, no. I just…I just can't wait to call you Mrs. Troy Bolton and be on our way to London where we can have two full weeks to ourselves. No calls from work, no moms interrupting anything, and most importantly, no Chad."

She liked that so much better then the worst scenario that she was imagining . "Troy," she paused, wiping a stray tear from her face, not wanting to ruin the makeup that Kelsi had helped her with, "I can't wait to be Mrs. Bolton either. But stop making me cry, that's not supposed to happen until we're in the sanctuary."

A few more silent moments came before them as Gabriella glanced at the clock on the wall once more. It was two forty five in the afternoon and exactly fifteen minutes until she would be walking down the aisle with her future father in law. "Troy, are you better now?"

"Yeah, I know I am. Unafraid," he smiled to himself as she put some faith back into him that he was okay to shout from the rooftops that he was Mr. Gabriella Montez after the ceremony.

"TROY JACKSON BOLTON! What the hell do you think you're doing!?!" Taylor's shrill voice flew out of her mouth down the skinny hallway before both of them knew it and Troy wasn't expecting it. And hearing her heels and two other girls' voices echo her outburst, Gabriella would've loved to have this on camera.

"Um, Gabby," Troy stood up from leaning on the door frame and stared at his friends running towards him, "just in case I don't make it through Taylor's wrath – I love you."

* * *

A/N: For Holden. 


End file.
